DOSE:	2.0 - 2.5 g	oral	Mushrooms - P. cubensis	(dried)
		oral	Alcohol

BODY WEIGHT:

230 lb

I want to start off by saying that while I had some experience with psychedelics going in but I still decided against my better judgement and imbibed in one of the least controlled settings possible which resulted in a very difficult but ultimately good experience. Regardless if parts sound fun/exciting/mystical it could have ended MUCH worse.

My wife and I had bought tickets to see Caamp (great band btw) during the start of Autumn in Oakland. Being from Sacramento we began the drive to the Bay Area at approx 4pm. We were excited for the show and only planned on drinking and possibly a little cannabis (me only, wife doesn't smoke). About 45 minutes out from Oakland she brought up she had heard about a place where you legally buy Magic Mushrooms. I honestly thought the idea sounded too far-fetched to be true so I was against it in the interest of time. We lightly bickered and decided we would stop by the location to see if it was legit or not, in the end we were doing fine on time and if it was a bust we would just head straight to the concert regardless.

Approx. 30 minutes later we parked and made a short walk to the Mushroom dispensary in Oakland. An armed guard with a face mask opened up the metal grated door to a small room with a metal detector and another armed guard. We passed through screening and were directed to the room down the dark hallway. We were greeted by a woman at a desk who took and copied our ID's and filled out some brief paperwork. Within 10 minutes we were ushered to the back passing by church pews alone the way. The business end of the shop looked like a typical marijuana dispensary. They had a small menu that I looked over and decided on 10.5 grams of Purple Mystics, they were listed as "medium potency", the only higher strength available was "Albino Penis Envy's" which I have heard a great deal about. We made a quick purchase and were on our way to the show within minutes.

We arrived downtown in a parking garage close to the venue and slammed a few drinks as we had a few minutes to kill and get into the party mood. At this point I was ready to eat some shrooms. Keep in mind I have tripped off and on over the course of 10 years and was just getting back into my interest of psychedelics. My wife had eaten very small amounts of shrooms together in social settings leading up to this. Without a scale I eyeballed what I thought was a sensible amount roughly 2-2.5 grams, I wanted to thoroughly trip but not be "gone". To this day I honestly believe it was roughly the previous amount described as it was just a single mushroom w/cap and not exceptionally hefty, thick/dense, or anything extraordinary looking (although some fairly heavy blue bruising should have been an indication of potency that I ignored). I ate what I picked out for myself and my wife may have eaten slightly less.

We began our trek to the venue from the parking garage which was approx. 5-10 minutes. We made it to the front of the venue with little issue and our tickets were checked and we were given a wrist band. At this point I am just feeling a buzz from the alcohol and little more. We got in the merch line in the lobby and waited approx. 5 minutes. This is the point where I start to feel the effects. Everything starts to become exaggerated, crisp, and vivid. One of the merch workers was a young heavy set young man wearing a shirt available for purchase that was at least 2 sizes too small. He seemed very uncomfortable and insecure about his body, constantly adjusting his shirt and I deeply felt for him as I was heavier growing up as a kid. This was causing a light amount of anxiety as I was just absorbing his emotions through his body language. We got my wife a shirt and began to move upstairs to find our seats. We went in the wrong direction and were directed back down to from where we came. We asked a nearby security guard where the location of our seats were and he started to act like we had snuck in and didn't belong, asking us probing questions, giving us the 3rd degree, and talking to my wife in a very condescending/authoritative fashion. While I was lightly feeling the mushrooms this security guard was legitimately being a serious asshole. Someone else chimed in and told us to go to the right and we'd be directed to the location. At this point my blood is near boiling but I ease up and my wife and I leave the presence of the security guard and I throw an insult over my shoulder as we walk away.

Upstairs is a much nicer vibe with an open bar area and restrooms. I can hear music from the opener, a beautiful voice singing over quiet piano. I feel a lot better after the incident with the security guard but am starting to feel the full power of the mushrooms. I was beginning to panic and told my wife "Babe, I'm sorry but I really need to go outside and I'm not sure if I can do this". My wife became upset and looked like she was about to cry. I'm feeling EXTREMELY bad at this point that my hubris had gotten me into a situation where I felt I needed to escape from. We sat down and we quietly talked/argued. She said "Why would you take so many? Why were you so irresponsible?!" Keep in mind we were talking very quietly out of paranoia but under the influence of the mushrooms my wife sounded incredibly mean and harsh. I apologized profusely and asked to go to the bathroom as I feeling slightly nauseous. I wretched for around 30 seconds and threw up a small amount of chewed mushroom pieces. After this occurred I felt significantly better, far less anxious, and I came back to my sitting wife and she went into the restroom. While I was waiting for her a man sat down and started talking to me, he was roughly 30 years old dressed for a night out with his significant other. He started talking about the things we do for love. He came across as genuine and warm. I have no idea if he was on anything other than alcohol but our conversation seemed strangely intimate for being literal total strangers. My wife returned from the restroom and she was extremely pleased that I was feeling better, we kissed and made up and went up one of the darkened ramp paths into the theater.

We quickly located our seats and started watching the opener which was pretty laid back, mainly just vocals which resonated against the grand interior of the theater. At this point the mushrooms were fully being felt, I was borderline overwhelmed but sitting down in the dark next to my wife while holding onto her arm made me feel a lot better. The opener ended her set and the lights adjusted to allow for the roadies to change out the stage.

Caamp began playing with 10 minutes, the whole atmosphere became more lively. It was at this point where I reached my peak. My wife is having a great time and not nearly on the same level as myself. I could hear every single individual conversation being had and I was connected to everyone. Some people were laughing and joking, others talking seriously, some lost in the moment enjoying themselves, and someone sounded like they were talking about me (which wasn't true). I focused on the words coming from the people behind us as I thought they had noticed my state of inebriation (which was very unlikely given that I was just sitting there and it was very dark for the most part) and were talking about me negatively. As I listened I noticed every word coming out of their mouths was my own thoughts! I then had the realization that if I think good things and maybe they will say good things. It worked!! I instantly felt a wave of relief brought on the perception of control of my situation.

The feeling of connectedness was the most intense instance of it under the influence of mushrooms I've ever experienced, damn near omnipresence within the theater. I can only imagine it would be close to what a "higher power" would experience but on a much smaller level relegated to the theater. Closing my eyes resulted in intense CEV, opening my eyes the lights that were a part of the show were indescribably beautiful, the detailed ceiling of the theater is morphing and breathing covered with multiple colors from the light show, full on OEV. The gargoyles high in the corners of the theater look like they are live and moving on occasion. The show starts to become livelier and we stood up and dance in place which I became self conscious of due to the people behind us sitting which my wife didn't seem to care. She made her way to the lower balcony portion so we could avoid blocking anyone's views where we saw a bunch of girls dancing together so my wife started to talk to them and joined them. I watched from roughly 20 feet away from my seat and couldn't help but be overtaken by the beauty and freedom my wife was embodying in the moment. A few minutes later my wife waved me down and I joined them. I can't know for sure if they were on anything but one of the girls in particular looked ridiculously happy and was experiencing intense euphoria, she seemed very on our level. I was greeted with so much love and familiarity although I had never met or seen these people before. Someone eventually said something to us being in the way, particularly me as I'm over 6 feet tall. My wife was offended but we made it back to our seats to finish the show.

I continued to peak for the next 30 minutes, generally enjoying the experience, but at one point feeling my ego start to slip away. Being generally aware of the power of psychedelics I realized that given the situation ego death was not something I wanted to experience here during the concert. Luckily I had taken just the right amount where I was still able to hang onto a thread of my highly distorted reality and not fall into the void of ego death. The tugging feeling on my ego dissipated quickly and I was able to enjoy the rest of the show, gradually coming down and back to reality.

The show ended, at this point I am near a totally sober state, still vibrating from the intense and borderline spiritual experience I had just been subjected too. We made our way outside, took some photos, and sat a bench. My wife had been eating small amounts of shrooms during the concert and had one more small thin stem and cap while we sat down. We were down to explore the city a little bit but realized we needed to get back to the car as we had to get there before the parking lot closed at midnight. It was approx. 1030 pm and we decided it was a good idea to start looking.

Here is one of the biggest takeaways from the event: KNOW AND DOCUMENT WHERE YOU PARKED YOUR CAR. The walk to the theater from the garage had been short but we were very turned around given that I was not 100% sober and my wife was nearly drunk AND under the influence of the shrooms. We tried multiple paths and found a few parking lot garages that looked similar. No luck unfortunately and the stressful nature of the situation became apparent as my wife was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with let alone the stress from walking blindly and not being able to find my car. We got in a brief argument after several minutes of walking, my wife being on the verge of a meltdown, sat down on a curb to cry. We talked and I apologized for being short but it was getting to be a serious situation and no outside source was going to be of any help. We were getting desperate the later it got. We commenced our search and found ourselves near some parking garages after asking several passerby's for directions. I turned around nearing total frustration walking towards the sloped exit and when I heard my wife ask a security guard for directions. She started giving him the most vague descriptions possible and it was hard to hide my growing frustration. She then mentioned a glass elevator and the guards face lit up! He said, I know just the one, follow me! This man walks us several blocks in a few directions and we end up at another parking garage. We head inside and check the 2nd floor and there my car is!! I can't begin to describe the relief that washed over me. I immediately asked him if he smoked and he said yes, so I gave him 2 marijuana edibles I had received for free from the mushroom dispensary. He was very gracious when we thanked him for all his help and he said no idea how much we appreciated his kindness. We parted ways and began our trek home to Sacramento.

[Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it!]
On our way home we discussed the concert and were fully over and not upset about the difficult parts of the night. I told her about my observations during the show and she was very moved. My total trip time was probably around 3.5-4 hours. Once we made it out of the city we had planned on staying at a rest stop outside of Vallejo but much to our dismay it had been taken over as homeless encampment so we decided otherwise. We ended up sleeping in the back of my Subaru crosstrek in a Fairfield Wal-Mart parking lot (not the worst place to catch a handful of hours of sleep).

All in all, a very life-altering and spiritual experience that has helped put me on the current path I'm on now, which I am very content with. While some parts were incredibly difficult, everything turned out okay, I just recommend taking every precaution you can for a good time (set, setting, and dosage) as small things can cause large problems later and dampen a potentially transcendent experience. I mainly dabble in microdoses and doses under 1.5 as of right now (I've taken 6 grams before).

Exp Year: 2021	ExpID: 116338
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: May 20, 2022	Views: 1,235
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Mushrooms - P. cubensis (66) : Festival / Lg. Crowd (24), Relationships (44), Difficult Experiences (5), General (1)